Prevalence of a particularly dangerous form of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) jumped three-fold in just two years, in hospitals in the United Kingdom, according to a paper in the October 2012 Journal of Clinical Microbiology.

This particular pathogen emerged in the US in 1998, and “is endemic within many US hospitals,” an observation which led to the current study being conducted, says coauthor Gopal Rao of Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, UK.